Another surgical-strike to Altoony
....Meaning down Wednesday, chase trains Thursday, return home Friday.
Eastbound around the bend into Gallitzin on Track Two. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
(“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”)
I hadn’t planned on doing Altoona in October.
Too many medical appointments were piling up.
In fact, if it had been October 15th through the 17th, I couldn’t have done it.
Too many medical appointments would have had to be rescheduled.
But my brother Jack in Boston was itching to go, to possibly get fall-foliage pictures.
I was keeping the final week of October open.
But my brother wanted to go the week before.
I looked at my schedule, and doing so meant rescheduling only one appointment. And it was counseling, not that important.
I also had to do a blood-test earlier than planned. But not much earlier.
So I only had one appointment to reschedule, and it was rescheduled a month later.
But my brother wanted me to join him, so my counseling is delayed a month.
I was going to Altoona a week earlier than I had allowed for; but only one appointment was rescheduled.
I’m not that anxious to go down there any more. I’m feel like I’m played out — that I’ve photographed just about all I can do with Allegheny Crossing.
But my brother is just now getting into it.
He started at many of the locations I had already used, but now seems to be moving on.
He was finding locations I hadn’t used which look fine.
He also had bought a railroad-radio scanner like I had, and is becoming familiar with scanner transmissions.
He also is familiarizing himself with the schedule and train-numbers. I never got very interested in that.
In other words we educate each other. I pretty much know the milepost locations, and if we have time to beat a train to another location.
He also is finding locations I’ve never used, and has an idea what is coming.
I didn’t have my scanner. It needs a new battery, which I didn’t have yet.
But we also had our smartphones getting the Station-Inn radio-feed on the west side of the mountain.
Except they were delayed; his quite a bit.
So we had a mish-mash on the western slope. First his scanner would broadcast the original transmission, then my smartphone would repeat it about 15 seconds later. Then my brother’s smartphone would broadcast the Station-Inn radio-feed about a minute after the original (????).
Down in Altoona I’d lose the Station-Inn radio-feed for lack of cellular-data transfer.
So we were supposed to be very hip and on top of things, but weren’t in my humble opinion.
I arrived Wednesday afternoon; my brother had arrived the day before.
He chased trains all day Wednesday, but didn’t get anything spectacular.
After checking in at my bed-and-breakfast, Station-Inn in Cresson (“kress-in”), I drove down the infamous Cemetery-Road to find my brother.
Station-inn is a bed-and-breakfast for railfans. It’s an old hotel hard by the ex-Pennsy main through Cresson.
The Cemetery-Road is a one-lane dirt-track through woods down to a faraway rural cemetery.
It’s parallel to the railroad-tracks as they attain the summit of Allegheny Ridge.
I found my brother, and we shot some photographs. But in October we lose light quickly. By 5 p.m. my shutter-speed gets too slow.
Along Track Three next to Cemetery-Road. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
The picture above is shot about 4 p.m. I was still at 1/400th of a second.
I shot others after that, but all are blurred. I gave up below 1/100th.
Our serious train-chasing was the next day, Thursday, October 23rd.
We started out headed for Cassandra Railfan Overlook (“kuh-SANN-druh;” as in the name “Anne”), where morning-light would be fabulous.
But we got distracted by something on the scanner.
We gave up on Cassandra in pursuit of 18N, all auto-racks eastbound.
We saw it going through Cresson, but weren’t in position to photograph it. It was on Track Two, climbing slowly.
Track Two means it will go through Allegheny Tunnel, the original Pennsy tunnel in Gallitzin. Instead of Track One, New Portage Tunnel, south of Gallitzin on the outskirts. (Track Two can be either way, and is usually westbound.)
We decided to try to beat it to Gallitzin, since Track Two eastbound into Gallitzin makes a great photograph.
It was in sight as we parked our car, slowly rounding the bend.
So my brother hobbled as quick as he could to the photo location on the Jackson St. overpass.
He still has his broken leg, but is no longer on crutches.
I still have my bad left knee, which has me hobbling.
My brother managed to snag a shot; that’s my lede photograph.
He got the picture I wanted to take, but couldn’t due to hobbling.
From there we drove down into Altoona to photograph the train threading the express tracks.
But our shot was blocked by a local doing switching next to us. Probably the same local that blocked shots in Altoona a month ago.
And of course dropping and picking up freightcars takes a long time.
Uncouple the car you wanna place, so you can go get the car you wanna pick up.
Then go back and get the car you wanna place, and couple it to the car you picked up.
Then you can drop the car you wanna place, and depart.
And you have to do every move without injuring your coworkers, who could be killed if run over.
As it any wonder shippers switched to trucks when maneuvering freightcars takes so long? About the only advantage to a railroad freightcar is they can load so much more than a truck.
Where we went from there I can’t remember. I’ll just run all the good shots we got.
Westbound on Three at Cassandra Railfan Overlook. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Eastbound stacker on the drag-tracks passes another in Altoona. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
The UPS train. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
Eastbound on Two at Slope Interlocking. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Westbound on Three through Gallitzin. (Too close for this kid.) (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
(Not too close for Jack, but too close for me.)
Where we’d go was partially determined by what we heard on the radio. And what my railfan friend in Altoona, Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee;” as in “wow”) was telling me.
Phil is extremely knowledgeable, but was monitoring the railroad-radio from his house and calling my cellphone since his beloved wife Rita has Multiple Sclerosis, so he doesn’t lead me around any more.
He did at first; it was railfan overload!
We went to Cassandra Railfan Overlook, but it was no longer morning light.
We also went to 24th St. bridge in Altoona over Slope Interlocking, because Phil said the westbound UPS train was coming.
The UPS train is a hotshot, mostly UPS trailers on flatcars.
But it was getting late, and our light was quickly fading.
It had been cloudy in the morning, but finally the sun came out in the afternoon.
We gave up and ate out with Faudi and his wife, the first time my brother and Faudi met.
Whether my brother and Faudi could chase trains is debatable. Faudi is a stickler for safety, as am I, but my brother takes chances.
My brother had me in one location I didn’t like right next to the tracks in Gallitzin. I was right next to Track Two, so when Faudi called I asked what track the approaching train was on.
He said Track Three. If he had said Track Two I would have skedaddled. As it was, I didn’t like being eight feet from Track Two, since a train might appear from behind me — it’s signaled both ways.
I also fell on the rock-ballast, twice.
My brother took more pictures Friday morning before leaving, but I left right away.
This is the way I usually did it; I leave as soon as I can — I wanna get home.
The light was better, since the sun was out.
My brother got RoadRailer, a train of highway trailers on railroad bogies.
RoadRailer west through Lilly. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
RoadRailer will be discontinued. It was a nice idea, but hard to put together, and can’t be backed or pushed.
The 25-year lease on the railroad bogies is about to expire, and the railroad isn’t interested in investing in new bogies.
RoadRailer trailers will continue to be railroaded, but on flatcars, not as a RoadRailer train.
Despite the mish-mash, we did pretty good.
The line is quite busy anyway.
My brother called and said he had a blast, especially finally meeting Faudi.
To me this is same railfan overload I had at first with Faudi.
Which means I wonder if he’ll play out like I have.
Will I go again?
Probably.
I have new places to shoot at.
If I can accompany my brother’s joy chasing trains, that’s enough reason to go.
• Station-Inn has an Internet broadcast of the railroad-radio frequency. They also have a webcam. I have both on often.
Eastbound around the bend into Gallitzin on Track Two. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
(“guh-LIT-zin;” as in “get”)
I hadn’t planned on doing Altoona in October.
Too many medical appointments were piling up.
In fact, if it had been October 15th through the 17th, I couldn’t have done it.
Too many medical appointments would have had to be rescheduled.
But my brother Jack in Boston was itching to go, to possibly get fall-foliage pictures.
I was keeping the final week of October open.
But my brother wanted to go the week before.
I looked at my schedule, and doing so meant rescheduling only one appointment. And it was counseling, not that important.
I also had to do a blood-test earlier than planned. But not much earlier.
So I only had one appointment to reschedule, and it was rescheduled a month later.
But my brother wanted me to join him, so my counseling is delayed a month.
I was going to Altoona a week earlier than I had allowed for; but only one appointment was rescheduled.
I’m not that anxious to go down there any more. I’m feel like I’m played out — that I’ve photographed just about all I can do with Allegheny Crossing.
But my brother is just now getting into it.
He started at many of the locations I had already used, but now seems to be moving on.
He was finding locations I hadn’t used which look fine.
He also had bought a railroad-radio scanner like I had, and is becoming familiar with scanner transmissions.
He also is familiarizing himself with the schedule and train-numbers. I never got very interested in that.
In other words we educate each other. I pretty much know the milepost locations, and if we have time to beat a train to another location.
He also is finding locations I’ve never used, and has an idea what is coming.
I didn’t have my scanner. It needs a new battery, which I didn’t have yet.
But we also had our smartphones getting the Station-Inn radio-feed on the west side of the mountain.
Except they were delayed; his quite a bit.
So we had a mish-mash on the western slope. First his scanner would broadcast the original transmission, then my smartphone would repeat it about 15 seconds later. Then my brother’s smartphone would broadcast the Station-Inn radio-feed about a minute after the original (????).
Down in Altoona I’d lose the Station-Inn radio-feed for lack of cellular-data transfer.
So we were supposed to be very hip and on top of things, but weren’t in my humble opinion.
I arrived Wednesday afternoon; my brother had arrived the day before.
He chased trains all day Wednesday, but didn’t get anything spectacular.
After checking in at my bed-and-breakfast, Station-Inn in Cresson (“kress-in”), I drove down the infamous Cemetery-Road to find my brother.
Station-inn is a bed-and-breakfast for railfans. It’s an old hotel hard by the ex-Pennsy main through Cresson.
The Cemetery-Road is a one-lane dirt-track through woods down to a faraway rural cemetery.
It’s parallel to the railroad-tracks as they attain the summit of Allegheny Ridge.
I found my brother, and we shot some photographs. But in October we lose light quickly. By 5 p.m. my shutter-speed gets too slow.
Along Track Three next to Cemetery-Road. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
The picture above is shot about 4 p.m. I was still at 1/400th of a second.
I shot others after that, but all are blurred. I gave up below 1/100th.
Our serious train-chasing was the next day, Thursday, October 23rd.
We started out headed for Cassandra Railfan Overlook (“kuh-SANN-druh;” as in the name “Anne”), where morning-light would be fabulous.
But we got distracted by something on the scanner.
We gave up on Cassandra in pursuit of 18N, all auto-racks eastbound.
We saw it going through Cresson, but weren’t in position to photograph it. It was on Track Two, climbing slowly.
Track Two means it will go through Allegheny Tunnel, the original Pennsy tunnel in Gallitzin. Instead of Track One, New Portage Tunnel, south of Gallitzin on the outskirts. (Track Two can be either way, and is usually westbound.)
We decided to try to beat it to Gallitzin, since Track Two eastbound into Gallitzin makes a great photograph.
It was in sight as we parked our car, slowly rounding the bend.
So my brother hobbled as quick as he could to the photo location on the Jackson St. overpass.
He still has his broken leg, but is no longer on crutches.
I still have my bad left knee, which has me hobbling.
My brother managed to snag a shot; that’s my lede photograph.
He got the picture I wanted to take, but couldn’t due to hobbling.
From there we drove down into Altoona to photograph the train threading the express tracks.
But our shot was blocked by a local doing switching next to us. Probably the same local that blocked shots in Altoona a month ago.
And of course dropping and picking up freightcars takes a long time.
Uncouple the car you wanna place, so you can go get the car you wanna pick up.
Then go back and get the car you wanna place, and couple it to the car you picked up.
Then you can drop the car you wanna place, and depart.
And you have to do every move without injuring your coworkers, who could be killed if run over.
As it any wonder shippers switched to trucks when maneuvering freightcars takes so long? About the only advantage to a railroad freightcar is they can load so much more than a truck.
Where we went from there I can’t remember. I’ll just run all the good shots we got.
Westbound on Three at Cassandra Railfan Overlook. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Eastbound stacker on the drag-tracks passes another in Altoona. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
The UPS train. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
Eastbound on Two at Slope Interlocking. (Photo by BobbaLew.)
Westbound on Three through Gallitzin. (Too close for this kid.) (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
(Not too close for Jack, but too close for me.)
Where we’d go was partially determined by what we heard on the radio. And what my railfan friend in Altoona, Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee;” as in “wow”) was telling me.
Phil is extremely knowledgeable, but was monitoring the railroad-radio from his house and calling my cellphone since his beloved wife Rita has Multiple Sclerosis, so he doesn’t lead me around any more.
He did at first; it was railfan overload!
We went to Cassandra Railfan Overlook, but it was no longer morning light.
We also went to 24th St. bridge in Altoona over Slope Interlocking, because Phil said the westbound UPS train was coming.
The UPS train is a hotshot, mostly UPS trailers on flatcars.
But it was getting late, and our light was quickly fading.
It had been cloudy in the morning, but finally the sun came out in the afternoon.
We gave up and ate out with Faudi and his wife, the first time my brother and Faudi met.
Whether my brother and Faudi could chase trains is debatable. Faudi is a stickler for safety, as am I, but my brother takes chances.
My brother had me in one location I didn’t like right next to the tracks in Gallitzin. I was right next to Track Two, so when Faudi called I asked what track the approaching train was on.
He said Track Three. If he had said Track Two I would have skedaddled. As it was, I didn’t like being eight feet from Track Two, since a train might appear from behind me — it’s signaled both ways.
I also fell on the rock-ballast, twice.
My brother took more pictures Friday morning before leaving, but I left right away.
This is the way I usually did it; I leave as soon as I can — I wanna get home.
The light was better, since the sun was out.
My brother got RoadRailer, a train of highway trailers on railroad bogies.
RoadRailer west through Lilly. (Photo by Jack Hughes.)
RoadRailer will be discontinued. It was a nice idea, but hard to put together, and can’t be backed or pushed.
The 25-year lease on the railroad bogies is about to expire, and the railroad isn’t interested in investing in new bogies.
RoadRailer trailers will continue to be railroaded, but on flatcars, not as a RoadRailer train.
Despite the mish-mash, we did pretty good.
The line is quite busy anyway.
My brother called and said he had a blast, especially finally meeting Faudi.
To me this is same railfan overload I had at first with Faudi.
Which means I wonder if he’ll play out like I have.
Will I go again?
Probably.
I have new places to shoot at.
If I can accompany my brother’s joy chasing trains, that’s enough reason to go.
• Station-Inn has an Internet broadcast of the railroad-radio frequency. They also have a webcam. I have both on often.
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posted by BobbaLew at 1:12 PM
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